New Delhi: The Committee to Protect Journalists has announced that the recipients of the 2020 International Press Freedom Awards include Shahidul Alam from Bangladesh, Mohammad Mosaed from Iran, Dapo Olorunyomi from Nigeria and Svetlana Prokopyeva from Russia.
All four journalists have faced arrests or criminal prosecution in reprisal for their reporting.
“Like brave and committed journalists everywhere, CPJ’s honorees set out to report the news without fear or favor for the benefit of their communities, their country, and the world,” Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director, said.
“They understood that they would confront powerful forces, enemies of the truth, who would try to stop them from doing their work. What they did not foresee was COVID-19. The global pandemic has not only made their jobs more difficult and dangerous, it has fueled a ferocious press freedom crackdown as autocratic leaders around the world suppress unwelcome news under the guise of protecting public health,” Simon added.
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney will also be honoured by the Ney York-based watchdog with the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award.
Dhaka-based photojournalist and social activist Shahidul Alam had been arrested in 2018 under a draconian section of the law on information and communication technology that carried a maximum jail term of 14 years for posting a video on social media about student protests in Dhaka. Alam was finally granted bail after 102 days in custody. Alam is also the founder of the Bangladeshi multimedia training organisation the Pathshala Media Institute and the Drik photo library.
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Freelance reporter Mohammad Mosaed was arrested and interrogated for several hours earlier this year in February for social media posts critical of the government’s handling of the outbreak of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. His social media accounts were also suspended. Mosaed had previously been arrested in November 2019 amid Iran’s nationwide internet shutdown and was detained for 16 days in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Co-founder and publisher of the Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi has been referred to as the “godfather” of online journalism in Nigeria. He has been arrested twice before he had to go into hiding in 1995. Most recently, he was arrested in 2017 when the police raided the Premium Times’ office on orders of the military for allegations of defaming the chief of army staff.
Svetlana Prokopyeva is a regional correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In early 2019, her home was raided by authorities who seized her equipment and personal belongings and interrogated her. She was charged with “justifying terrorism” and her bank accounts were frozen. On July 6, she was convicted and ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles. The prosecutor had sought a six-year prison term.
Previous recipients of the CPJ’s International Press Freedom Awards include Neha Dixit from India, Patrícia Campos Mello from Brazil, Lucía Pineda Ubau and Miguel Mora from Nicaragua and Maxence Melo Mubyazi from Tanzania.
Amal Clooney will receive the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award for representing arrested journalists. Last year, Clooney had represented Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo of Reuters, who had been imprisoned in Myanmar for 17 months after they reported on the genocide of Rohingya Muslims. In 2014, she also represented Canadian Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy who was being held in Egypt, along with other journalists.
As the co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, she promotes freedom of speech and journalism via its TrialWatch initiative, which monitors the trials of journalists worldwide and provides free legal representation for those in need.
Amal Clooney. Photo: Reuters
“Journalists in trouble have no better champion than Amal Clooney, which is why we are so delighted to honor her with the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award. A talented barrister, gifted negotiator, and powerful speaker, Clooney works tirelessly to free journalists unjustly targeted by despotic leaders using increasingly punitive laws to stifle reporting,” said Kathleen Carroll, CPJ board chair.